WHAT WAS THE GRENADIAN CONFEDERATION? - HISTORY - 2025

The Granadina Confederation was established in 1858 with a new constitution, under the mandate of the conservative Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, remaining until 1863. It spread into the current territories occupied by Colombia and Panama, as well as part of the territory of Brazil and Peru..

It included a period in which it was intended to recover part of the central power lost in the development of a federal state. However, he ended up building an even more liberal system with strong power for integrated sovereign states, giving rise to the so-called Radical Olympus, a period in which the ideas of Colombian radical liberalism were imposed under the name of the United States of Colombia (1863 -1886).

Flag and shield of the Grenadine Confederation

The Grenadian Confederation: development of the federal system

In the mid-19th century, Colombia struggled to consolidate a federal system that would give the regions political and economic autonomy.

In 1849, the liberal José Hilario López, granted autonomy to the regional governments, transferring rents and functions that until now corresponded to the central government.

Constitution of 1953

Under the López government, the 1853 constitution was promulgated, which created the direct election of the president, members of Congress, magistrates, and governors, and granted broad autonomy to the departments.

Despite the victory that this constitution meant for the liberals, enormous tension grew that ended in the proclamation of the liberal José María Melo as dictator, after the dissolution of Congress.

This was the only military dictatorship that Colombia had during the 19th century and it only lasted eight months. Later the liberal José María Obando was elected president, in charge of developing the new constitution that restricted the central power and strengthened the provinces.

Under his government he was in favor of church-state separation, the creation of civil marriage and civil divorce, the reduction of the military forces and the abolition of the death penalty.

Constitution of 1958

Obando did not take long to face a coup that returned power to the conservatives led by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, who promoted the approval of the 1958 constitution through a National Constituent Assembly.

Its purpose was to create a legal framework that would allow progress towards the consolidation of a federal state with central power over sovereign states.

Thus was born the Granada Confederation that established its capital in the city of Tunja. The new State granted greater power and representativeness to the provinces, each State could have its own independent legislative body and could elect its own president.

During this period the vice presidency was also abolished and the figure was replaced by a congressional appointee. Senators would be elected for a term of four years and representatives to the House would remain in office for two years.

With the new constitution of 1958, the federal Executive was allowed exclusively the management of foreign relations, the internal organization of the confederation and matters relating to general aspects of federal legislation.

Eight sovereign states were created: Panama, Antioquia, Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Tolima and Magdalena.

Although the Catholic Church was deeply embedded in the culture of the people, the Granada Confederation, through laws, kept the clergy under control, carrying out confiscations of their property and banishing the priests from the Society of Jesus.

This new policy on the church ended up costing the government harsh criticism from the Vatican.

In 1959 laws were approved that granted powers to the executive and the army, and tools to the electoral system to maintain a central power that somehow controlled the sovereign states.

Radical liberals such as Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, who was the governor of Cauca and a liberal caudillo, responded with strong criticism to the promulgation of the new norms.

This ended up generating tensions that led to an extended civil war until 1863, when the United States of Colombia was created with a new constitution and a liberal orientation, resulting in the end of the Granada Confederation.

Laws issued during the Grenadian Confederation

By annulling the state electoral norms issued by the provincial Assemblies, the Elections Law was created in 1959. It consisted of creating electoral districts and councils for each confederate state.

The second great reform came with the Organic Law of Finance, in May 1859, becoming a factor of tension between the federal government and the States.

The main reason was because the central Executive was given the power to independently appoint a Finance Intendant for each State, a kind of supervisory delegate.

The Organic Law for the Public Force was the third law and established that the armed forces recruited by state governments depended on the control of the federal executive in case of foreign war or disturbance of public order.

The central government would appoint officers and sovereign states could recruit members of the municipal guards.

The scope of the Grenadian Confederation

The Grenadian Confederation achieved a certain consensus among the political and intellectual elites.

Above all because of the convenience of adopting a federal model to curb the dictatorial and authoritarian tendencies of national leaders such as Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera, since the system favored a distribution of power.

Thanks to the recognition of the supremacy of the provincial over the national, the state Assemblies and governors were empowered to manage their affairs freely.

The regional governments were delegated the arms trade, the possibility of establishing their own electoral law, the appointment of officials and the organization of education.

In this period, the growth of international trade stood out, with agricultural and mining goods as the main products and with great demand in the European and North American markets.

The process of strengthening sovereign states favored the reduction of taxes. This promoted production locally and for the benefit of small producers, destroying state monopolies or forcing the abolition of slavery.

References

1. Gilmore, RL (1949). Federalism in Colombia, 1810-1858. University of California, Berkeley.
2. Picón, AG (1972). The military coup of April 17, 1854 (Vol. 120). Colombian Academy of History.
3. Diaz, HB (1957). Mariano Ospina Rodríguez. Revista Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, 21 (77), 356-361.
4. Escobar ‐ Lemmon, MC (2006). Executives, legislatures, and decentralization. Policy Studies Journal, 34 (2), 245-263.
5. Alesina, A., Carrasquilla, A., & Echavarría, JJ (2000). Fiscal Federalism in Colombia. Bogota, Colombia: Fedesarrollo. Mimeographed document.